MR. FLEISCHER: Good
afternoon. I want to give everybody a read-out on the
President's conversation with President Putin, and then to discuss a
little bit about next week, as well. I know everybody has a
lot to do today, so we'll try to keep this as brief as possible.

President Bush and President Putin had a
10-minute conversation this morning. President Putin
initiated the phone call. They discussed their meeting in
Ljubljana, and both expressed to each other what a positive and strong
meeting they thought it was; how it laid the groundwork for a lot of
productive work in U.S.-Russian relations.

They discussed a wide variety of issues and talked about how they could
work together on strategic stability, on improved economic relations
and on a variety of regional issues. And toward that point,
on behalf of the President, I want to announce today the President --
foreign President Putin, that Secretary Evans, Secretary O'Neill and
Dr. Rice will all travel to Russia following the meetings in Genoa of
the G-7-plus-1.

If you recall, in Ljubljana,
the President discussed with President Putin a mission to Russia, to
help Russia with improving economic circumstances. And that
was a trade mission that they discussed. As part of the
follow-up to that conversation in Ljubljana, the President is
announcing today that Secretary Evans and Secretary O'Neill will be
traveling to Russia immediately following the G-7-plus-1 meeting; and
Dr. Rice will be going to Russia and the Ukraine, as well.

Q Do you know what date
that would be?

MR. FLEISCHER: It's
immediately following the meetings in Italy. You may want to
call Congress and call Treasury for the exact itineraries of the
Secretaries.

Q Are
they traveling together?

MR.
FLEISCHER: Let me finish a couple of things
here. President Putin also wished the President a happy
birthday, and he also wished the United States happy Independence Day.

Q Are the Secretaries
and Dr. Rice -- so they're not going all together? Or do you
have any sense of if they're traveling together and then Dr. Rice goes
off to Ukraine, as well?

MR.
FLEISCHER: The exact modalities will still be determined,
and we'll have more on that closer to it.

Q Why are they doing this? What are
they hoping to get accomplished?

MR.
FLEISCHER: Well, I think it's a sign of the strength of
U.S.-Russia relations, the importance that President Bush attaches to
helping Russia to have a strong economy. The President
believes that a strong Russian economy is in America's national
interest and in the interest of the world.

And the United States, under President Bush, is committing to working
closely and productively with Russia to strengthen their economy.

Q What did they discuss
about Iraq?

MR. FLEISCHER: On the
topic of Iraq, the President said that Secretary Powell and Secretary
Ivanov had additional work to do in regard to the question of Iraq
sanctions at the United Nations. I'm not going to get into
all the specifics of what they discussed, I just wanted to note that,
of course, four of the five members, permanent members of the Security
Council have supported a change in the sanctions policy, which is a
sign of clear progress.

The Iraq sanctions
program has been in effect for approximately 10 years, and the United
States and Britain have sought to make a change in
it. Sometimes these changes don't happen overnight, they
require additional work, and that's what President Bush expressed to
President Putin, that Secretary Powell and Secretary Ivanov -- Minister
Ivanov, have a additional work to do on that matter.

Q Did he go further and
urge him to support --

MR.
FLEISCHER: I'm not going to get into the specifics of
it. As you know, the President believes that we need to have
a sanctions policy that is tight; that is not full of the holes, the
way the current policy is; that operates in a manner so that Iraq is
not able to rebuild its military without doing harm to civilians.

Q Ari, what about
Macedonia? Did they discuss that and movement --

MR. FLEISCHER: They did, they
mentioned Macedonia, but I indicated before that the two talked about
regional issues, they talked about the cease-fire in Macedonia and the
importance of working together. They both were pleased with
the results in Southeastern Europe, and the fact that the cease-fire
has been agreed to.

Q Any discussion of once -- once any political
agreement is there, about U.S. troops being involved, was there any
discussion?

MR. FLEISCHER: No
discussion of that.

Q No discussion of troops, at all?

MR. FLEISCHER: No.

Q Ari, what about the
missile defense system? Did they get into that, at all?

MR. FLEISCHER: They talked about
continuing a follow-up, and there will be additional follow-ups as a
result of the meeting in Ljubljana and, as the President announced,
with President Putin, in Slovenia, in various working groups under DOD
that will be working on that issue.

Q Did they set a date for this Crawford summit?

MR. FLEISCHER: We have not
announced a date yet.

Q So does that mean they set a
date? (Laughter.)

MR.
FLEISCHER: We have additional issues, just make certain they
work out. We would never want to hold a meeting in Crawford
without enough phone lines. (Laughter.)

Q Ari, do you know if
President Bush has discussed with Senator Helms his concerns about the
gushing comments Mr. Bush made about Mr. Putin after their first
summit?

MR. FLEISCHER: Did the
President discuss it with Senator Helms?

Q Yes.

MR.
FLEISCHER: Not to my knowledge. The President is
aware of Senator Helms' reflections.

Q What is his reaction to Senator Helms'
characterizations?

MR.
FLEISCHER: He respects all senators rights to express their
opinion. But as the President said to President Putin this
morning, he noted what a good and positive meeting they had in
Ljubljana. They both expressed their belief that it was a
very strong meeting. The conversation was a warm
conversation.

Q Are
Barbara and Jenna coming up at any point this weekend?

MR. FLEISCHER: No, they're not.

Q Have they called him
yet?

MR. FLEISCHER: I don't have
an update on whether they called. I would refer you to the
President's remarks to the pool about the hour of the morning and their
age.

Q Can you discuss
the report out of Texas that Jenna Bush's driver's license has been
suspended for 30 days and she has been fined $600 in the latest
underage incident?

MR.
FLEISCHER: I cannot discuss that. And, as you
know, any matter dealing with the family is a family matter, not a
government matter. It's not an issue that the White House is
going to get into.

Q Ari, which President won the horseshoe match?

MR. FLEISCHER: It was either 41 or
43. (Laughter.)

Q Ari, anything on the U.S. serviceman who has
been now in custody of the Japanese? Any kind of comment
coming from the administration? Has the President talked to
the U.S. Ambassador about this at all?

MR.
FLEISCHER: The President has been kept informed throughout
the issue and all comments on that I would refer you to DOD.
All right, let me go ahead and give the week
ahead for next week.

Q Can I ask one more about the
birthday? Did anyone else send any cables or, you know, any
other leaders send any congratulations or any special gifts that he
got, or anything like that? Not from other leaders, but any
--

MR. FLEISCHER: You know, Debbie,
I don't know. I would imagine the President has maybe heard
from some other folks by way of cards or cables; that wouldn't surprise
me at all. It's a happy confluence of a birthday and
independence. People seem to be happy to express their
wishes on both points.

Q Do you know about the party this afternoon?

MR. FLEISCHER: It will be a private
dinner tonight, in honor of the President's birthday. It
will be for family and some close friends. And that's really
the only details we're giving out.

Q It's at Walker's Point?

MR. FLEISCHER: Yes, they're not
leaving.

Q Is it at
Walker's?

MR. FLEISCHER: Yes.

Q Do you know anything
about the boat that they're going to go out on today? Any
details on the boat?

MR.
FLEISCHER: No, you might want to ask Gordon. What
type of details are you looking for?

Q What kind of boat, how fast it goes, how old
it is?

MR. FLEISCHER: Gordon would
probably be a better person on that.

Q I want color on the boat.

MR. FLEISCHER: All I know is it's
buoyant.

Q She wants a
leak on the boat. (Laughter.)

MR.
FLEISCHER: Very good, Mr. Knoller. Mark does look
like a whaling captain today. Put on a floppy hat, we'll
send you out there. (Laughter.)

Next
week. First, the President's radio
address. You're going to be given the radio address, and
then several of the President's remarks next week, where the President
is going to send a reminder to Congress about making sure they take
care of the nation's business. There are several important
issues that are pending in the Congress, that the President is
concerned are receiving less than their fair share of consideration,
important issues that have moved to the back burner, when the American
people expect them to be on the front burner.

And that begins with education reform. And the President's
radio address will be a reminder of the importance of working together
to get education reform enacted into law. And he will remind
the Congress to take that up when they come back, so that education
can, indeed, be passed and sent to the President prior to the August
recess. The President thinks it would be a real step
backward for education if Congress failed to take action by sending him
a bill prior to August recess. That will be in his radio
address.

In remarks Monday to the America's
Promised Group that is coming to the White House, the President will
focus Congress's attention on three major legislative initiatives that
he expects Congress to take action on over the summer. One,
again, will be education. You're going to see the President
continuing to return to the topic of education, reminding Congress to
take care of the people's business, and not to get sidetracked. The
President will also talk about the importance of moving faith-based
legislation through the House of Representatives, where action has
already begun. As you noted, the President yesterday put out
a statement welcoming the endorsement of his faith-based initiative
from the second largest church group of African-Americans in the
country. The President is expecting additional action in the
Congress on faith-based education.

And the
third element the President will note in his speech on Monday is
patients' bill of rights. The President is going to urge
Congress to take action on a patients' bill of rights. And
you will see a series of events throughout the week next week on
patients' bill of rights, reminding the Congress that this is an issue
that can be signed into law if Congress is willing to make the right
choices by putting progress before politics.

And you'll see the President take to the road a little bit next week.
After his remarks Monday, he's going to visit a hospital, again as
another reminder to the Congress that the President is dedicated to
signing a patients' bill of rights into law. And now it is
up to the Congress to make sure they send one to the President that
does not contain any poison pills.

On Tuesday
the President will travel to New York City. He will go to
Ellis Island, where he will participate in an event honoring America's
newest immigrants, a naturalization ceremony welcoming new Americans to
our country. At Ellis Island, he will also participate, at
St. Patrick's Cathedral, in an event honoring the memory of Cardinal
O'Connor.

The President will have additional
events focused on patients' bill of rights in Washington throughout the
remainder of the week, a little more travel in the Washington area to
highlight the importance of a patients' bill of rights.

Q Did you say Monday
was a local hospital?

MR.
FLEISCHER: Correct. He'll travel to a couple
local hospitals next week. That's the focus.

Q What about
energy? That seems to be lacking here on the issues.

MR. FLEISCHER: Yes, thank you for
bringing that up. I mentioned the President is going to
focus on three issues in his remarks on Monday. And the
issues will be, again, education, patients' bill of rights and the
faith-based initiative. In those remarks on Monday, he will
also remind the Congress of the importance of taking action on
energy. The House of Representatives believes that it will
pass energy measures to protect America's energy independence and to
promote conservation by July 12th. And the President's going to urge
action in the Congress.

Q Is that a lower priority now, or --

MR. FLEISCHER: No, it is not a
lower priority. It remains an important
priority. And, you know, there have been a series of recent
developments on the energy front that should not let anybody
relax. Even though there have been some favorable
developments, in terms of price movements on energy -- and particularly
the price of gasoline at the pump -- the President does not believe
that anybody in Congress should be lulled into a false sense of
security. America remains overly dependent on foreign
supplies of oil. And we have an ageing infrastructure that
continues to leave America at risk of blackouts and brownouts at any
given moment in many places around the country this summer.

Q Just one more
question in that regard. What about the reports that some of
the tax relief measures for energy are being delayed, and that the
charitable contribution deductions might be delayed in Congress?

MR. FLEISCHER: Well, the President
urges Congress to pass those items. Those were the part of
the budget that the President has proposed. The President believes
those are constructive and helpful steps. The President
believes they're the right policy. He urges Congress to
enact them.

Q Anything
Saturday, Ari?

MR.
FLEISCHER: Tomorrow?

Q Yes.

MR. FLEISCHER: I hope
not. I think you'll have additional golf in the
morning. But other than that -- we'll try to do our best to
keep you informed of any potential movements. But right now,
I'd anticipate the President is going to be basically enjoying time
with his family and relaxing.

Q Will we get the radio address this evening,
this afternoon?

MR.
FLEISCHER: Yes, radio address will come out at the usual
time tonight, or this afternoon. Let's try to move that up a
little bit today, try to get that to everybody earlier, on an embargoed
basis.

Q And one issue
you didn't mention that is going to be -- whether he likes it or not --
is going to be addressed by Congress this summer is campaign finance
reform. Why didn't you mention that?

MR. FLEISCHER: Well, the
President's speech on Monday is going to focus on the issues that I
just mentioned. Obviously, there are scores of issues
pending in the Congress. And on the question of campaign
finance reform, the President is pleased that Congress is moving on
campaign finance reform. And he believes that working with
the Congress, we can get a campaign finance reform bill done and
enacted this year, if Congress will focus its attention on the
President's principles. But there is movement on the
Congress on it, and the President's pleased to see it.

Q Are you familiar with
a report by Byrd to Hastert saying that the President wants to cut $299
million from energy efficiency, renewable energy research?

MR. FLEISCHER: There's a report
from Byrd to -- what did you say?

Q It's a report from Byrd to Hastert, saying
that the White House wants to cut almost $300 million from last year's
energy efficiency and renewable energy research programs.

MR. FLEISCHER: Yes, I think that's
-- that was something that was in the President's
budget. And as you know, last week, when the President sent
up his energy legislation to the Congress, you saw the Department of
Energy -- he's now restored a significant portion of that
funding. I believe, Ron, that that question that you're
addressing was contained in that report sent up to the Congress.

All right. Last question.

Q Does the President
have any plans to contact President Putin before the G-8, or is this
their last --

MR. FLEISCHER: It all
depends on events. So if he does, we'll let you know.

THE PRESS: Thank you.

MR. FLEISCHER: Thank
you. And I wanted you to know, I vociferously disagree with
the woman playing golf at the first hole, who noticed the pool standing
by, standing on a nearby mound, and shouted to a friend, "Cripes, we
got this crap again." I don't know who that woman was --